1806] Critical Catalogue. G3

ledge no partiality for the extreme of ſmall bones and ſmall offals and from the information we have had, we are led toprefer the Cul- ley, or Norchumberland variety of New Leiceſter ſheep, to the higheſt bred forms of their own county. Mr. Hunt needed not to have had recourle to the turf, to prove that ſmall females often bring very large produce, from being matched with large males; nor is the poſition concerning the female, as ſtated by Mr. Cline, of any very material import, but rather handled at the wrong end. À

Sir John Sinclair’s propoſed enquiry reſpe&ing heal h and longe- vity in human nature, together with Mr. Cline’s paper on animals, give riſe to the following curious refleRions of this author:

«[ cannot ſuppoſe that there ever was a period of time ſince the origin of literature when the cacoethes scribendi was ſo truly epide- mical: but whatever may be the opinion of the learned, the evidence is too friking to admit of doubt, that there are a great numb er of the arts which never can be brought to ſcientific certainty; and*n many caſes our knowledge at leaſt depends ſo much on perſonal attention, that the higheſt perfeQion of the art is ultimately limited to private judgment and individual opinion. Ifa perfe& knowledge of the arts could be delineated upon paper, the genius of a Michael Angelo or a Raphael would no longer beſpeak our admiration or merit our at tentions If it were poſible to give the preſcription of the colouring, and di- reétions for the braſh, the art might then be recorded with ſcientific certainty, and become transferable for ever. But in all theſe ſubli- mities of taſte, we are taught by the experience of ages that the ac- compliſhment is perſonal, and can neither be communicated nor dé ſcribed. And if, in purſuit of the ſame argument, we ſhould for z moment ſuppoſe that the pradice of phyfſic could be brought to the ſame perfeâtion, one ſyítem of perfe&ion would then be eſtabliſhed, and the diferent branches of the profeſſion would all be reduced to the ſame level; and any old woman, who was capable of reading a plan of domeſtic medicine, would then be equal to the firſt phyſician of the age. And with reſpe& to domeſtic animals, it muſt be egually evident, that if the whole was once reduced to book knowledge, all the ſublime myſteries of the art would be immediately expoſed, and every perſon who could read be at once initiated into the profeſlion.’*

On conſtitutional ſtamina, and on the rationality and juſtice of af- fording good keep, Mr. Hunt really writes like a philoſopher:

«e T do not pretend to ſay that thoſe who âre employed in manu- faQories are equally ſtrong and healthy as thoſe ſoldiers who have been well ſeaſoned to the field; but there are numbers, in manufato- Ties, of ingenious heads and uſeful hands, who never would be ft for ſoldiers, whoſe health would not enable them to bear the camp, and yet are uſeful members of ſociety in their reſpe&ive ſituations. Tc is a well known fa& amongſt military gentlemen, that if a newly raiſed regiment is immediately taken into aual ſervice, very great numbers die in the firſt campaign, whoſe natural infirmities or feeble ſtate of conſtitution will not fand the teſt of ſeaſoning, in conſequence of which thoſe that remain prove firong and healthy ſoldiers. They arè not made ſtrong and healthy by their ſituation, but are by nature fit- ted for the ſervice; and as thoſe who are not ftrong and healthy die, it is only the ſtrong and healthy which remain.

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